Of laughter and tears
by AnneHarper
Summary: AU where maka has a bigger bad girl streak than usual and she's on the run from her crazy past, will Soul be able to help save her or are they both in for more than they can handle? SoulxMaka
1. Chapter 1

Of laughter and tears:

"My name is irrelevant." She said while brushing her bangs out of her big green eyes.

"That is not an answer to my question." Mr. Sid said with his booming voice.

The girl stood in front of the classroom with her arms crossed and an annoyed attitude clearly displayed on her face.

"It's not going to tell you anything about me, It's just a name. It can't tell you about who I am or help you understand my life. Not that any of you will even bother to care. It's ridiculous. I won't even be here for more than a month, why do you need to know my stupid name?" She flashed a look of defiance to the instructor and crossed her arms.

"well how are we supposed to address you? How do we get your attention? When I was a real man, I let everyone know my name, it was no secret." Sid's voice only has one level, loud.

The mystery girl reached up and pulled on one of her pigtails in a thoughtful manner.

"You can call me Oni." she smiled the most devilish little smile and laughed.

The blonde pigtails she wore looked way out of place on this girl, her attitude screamed "fuck you" but her style said "bookworm/non-athletic/string bean".

I mean what was with her attitude? I couldn't get a read on this flat-chested nerd. The carefully set up schemas in my brain were at war. She dressed like a super-geek, plaid skirt, yellow vest, white collared undershirt, and a green tie. No makeup, so she was a naturally pretty girl. And the _pigtails_ for Death's sake, was she trying to look like a four year old?

But then, taking a closer look at her you could see what looks like the beginning of a tattoo peeking out of her short little schoolgirl skirt on her left thigh and skull shaped earrings climbing up her ears. Black fingernails, thick and sturdy combat boots. Wanting to be called 'Oni' which translated into demon...None of these details fit together.

She had elements of nerd, goth, popular, theater kid, and anger management issues all rolled into a tiny little blonde package.

She was messing with my careful organized categories of 'who fit where'.

I believe to be cool you have to fit in with everybody, that was my goal at Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short, to be the kid everyone wanted to be around. And hell if it hadn't worked like a charm. He was a cool guy, who gave off an air of indifference. He had girls tripping over themselves to sit with him at lunch, love letters crammed in his locker, and the respect of every guy at this school. He had it all, so why was this weird chick making him so confused. Soul Eater Evans prided himself on his ability to look at someone and just know what they want from him. Be it, a certain way to act, when to crack a joke, when to be serious.

But this, this blonde nightmare had his brain frazzled.

If he approached her, he had the feeling he would be hit in the head with something.

"Oh fine." Sid said/yelled. He let out a long suffering sigh and gestured towards an empty chair.

Wait.

An empty chair...like the one next to Black*Star. The only empty chair in the entire room. Soul grinned and coughed to hide a laugh.

 _Good luck nerd, Black*Star is one hell of a handful._

He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, getting ready for the scene about to unfold in front of him.

"YOOOOOO! MAKA?! IS THAT YOU?" Black*Star boomed, jumping up out of his chair.

"IT'S ME YOUR GOD, THE GREAT ALMIGHTY BLACK*STAR! MUAHAHAHA!"

The girl, Maka, jumped at the sudden voice assaulting her ears and whipped her head towards the pointy blue haired kid. Her big green eyes grew in size and a large shit-eating grin spread across her features.

"There is no God." She said while laughing in between words. "If there was a God I wouldn't have to sit next to you, Black*Star!" She almost skipped over to him and gave him a loud high five and he went in for a tight hug.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THERE IS NO GOD WHEN I AM STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?! YAHOOOOOO!"

"Black*Star! Calm down!" a quiet voice said.

"TSUBAKI LOOK, LOOK IT'S MAKA!" he said while bouncing off the walls.

"I see her Black*Star, but you need to calm down! You don't want to get kicked out of class again!"

Tsubaki then turned towards the now happy blonde, "Maka, you are looking well! It's been such a long time, how are you doing? Learning and reading like usual I suspect?" The tall japanese beauty brushed her long black hair out of her face and Soul could see the twinkle in her eye.

"How's Asura?" Tsubaki said with a small smile playing on her lips.

Maka's eyes went dead. She kept her smile frozen on her face.

"He's alright, thank you for asking." She seemed to have stopped breathing. She took her seat with that stupid smile glued to her face.

"Alright settle down class, we are going to be reviewing the lore behind the undead, or zombies." Sid shouted, and then started a long tale about zombies and the science behind them versus the myths.

Meanwhile Soul was stumped. This goth geek knew Black*Star? They didn't seem like they would run in the same group. But their interaction betrayed a familiarity bred by a long term friendship. And she spoke to Tsubaki? Tsubaki Nakatsukasa didn't talk to anyone who wasn't five foot and had pointy blue hair, but she spoke to this Maka girl as if it was a normal thing.

 _Who is this girl?_

Sid droned on until the bell rang and the students packed up their things for next class, biology with Mr. Stein. Soul and Black*Star were pretty tight, but he had never mentioned a Maka before. He would have to ask him more about her later.

In the corner of his eye he watched Maka gather her things and walk towards the door holding up a map, and from what Soul could she she was holding it backwards. She peered out the door, looking left and then right, before deciding to go left. _Wrong way blondie._

Before he knew what he was doing he was up and walking after her.

In the hall Soul assumed his 'cool guy posture'. Shoulders slouched, slow walk, hands in pockets. He watched his feet as he walked, which may be why he didn't notice that Maka had stopped walking until he bumped into her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Which way is Stein's classroom? by Death I'll be searching all day, bloody confusing maps._

Maka turned the map over, held it sideways, and then turned it back the way she had it originally. She stopped walking and felt someone bump into her.

"Hey man watch it!" she spouted angrily turning on her heel to see the rude crapbag that bumped into her.

The first thing she noticed were his hands. Tucked away in his pockets like he had something to hide. The guy obviously wasn't watching where he was going, how could he with his head down like that? Then she noticed the hair. Now it's unlike Maka to gush over anything that wasn't inside one of her books, but she just couldn't look away. It was beautiful, silvery locks that shone in the dimly lit hallway. She saw him start to raise his head to look at her and she knew she had to stop staring at his weirdly fascinating hair, so she jumped into sarcasm mode.

"Whoa, sorry Gramps, didn't realize they let old geezers like yourself into this academy." She smirked.

What in the hell was a guy her age doing with silver hair? Granted, silver _gorgeous_ hair, but was it a fashion statement, natural...? Hell if she knew.

His eyes reached hers and her brain turned to mush. It takes a lot to make Maka Albarn speechless, but never in her life had she seen someone so perfect. That tiny little voice in her head kept telling her to get herself together and stop acting like some stupid main character who sees this perfect guy and suddenly her life changes. She is not some lovestruck teenage girl, she won't allow herself to be, not again. _Never again._

But those eyes. Those soulful pools of ruby surrounded by thick silver lashes, they just took her breath away. She knew she should be focusing on the fact that his freaking eyes were blood red, but how could she focus on anything but how sad they seemed? Her heart pinged, she wanted to know more about this boy. Reach out to him and help him. After all, she specialized in repairing broken souls.

Which is exactly why she should leave. Right now. Walk the other way, turn around and pretend they never met.

"Excuse me Gramps I gotta get going, so if you'll excuse me..." Maka moved to go around him but he side stepped, stopping her.

"Don't call me Gramps. It's not cool." He flashed her a smile. Wicked sharp teeth gleamed and once again she was left brain dead.

"Fine, what do I call you then?" She knew she was blushing and she cursed every god she could think of for giving her such an expressive face.

"I mean, most call me Soul, so does that sound alright?" He smirked.

"okay then Soul, nice meeting you, watch where you're going next time and goodbye." She moved to pass him, only to be blocked again.

"You know, for a bookworm, you're not very smart." His mouth was still set in that cocky grin.

"Is this how you talk to everyone you meet? Insult them? Do you have any friends, because if not I understand why." She put her hands on her hips.

"Like you have room to talk, calling me Gramps like I'm some old fart. That's a great way to make friends." Maka didn't answer him, and Soul gave a heavy sigh.

"You're holding the map upside down." He shrugged his shoulders. "I was just trying to help, see ya round Maka." She watched him walk back down the hall away from her.

Of course the only way he could've known her name was if he was in her first period class, so she knew she'd see him again.

Now the question is, does that make her happy or not.

She reached up to fiddle with her earrings, she had nine ear piercings and a belly button piercing. She knew she looked strange to some, pigtails and skull earrings generally didn't go hand in hand. A schoolgirl skirt and a large intricate tattoo of a soul with wings also didn't mix well. Large books and combat boots...not a usual combo. She was used to stares and questioning glances. Never bothered her in the least.

Soul had on red skinny jeans a yellow jacket and a headband to keep his hair out of his eyes. His clothes were pretty normal, no contradictions to mention. It was his looks that made him stand out in her mind. Shark teeth, white hair, ruby eyes. That is what made her heart skip a beat. Soul was unusual and exciting.

Of course all of these thoughts sent of warning bells in her mind. There is no reason to make new friends, hell she wasn't expecting to have any when she came here. Black*Star and Tsu were a really nice surprise at least she wouldn't spend the month alone.

Staying in one place for too long is dangerous, making friends just makes it harder to leave. Seeing her old childhood friends was going to be hard enough when it came time to move on, no one else needs to get involved or else Asura would have a field day ruining their lives.

 _Asura._

Even thinking the name sent shivers down her spine. The satan-spawn had her running for almost a year now. Everytime she settled into a new life he would just kind of appear and everything would go to shit. He would ruin everything, stalk her, any new friends she had made. Make horrible threats to anyone she tried to get close too, just to mess with her.

She wouldn't let that happen to anyone here. Asura will not destroy anything else because she won't give him anything to break.

She turned her map around the right way and started back up the hall she had just walked down. She held her head down and gripped the map tightly.

No one else would get dragged into her mess, she will keep to herself and move on in a month and everyone will go on with their happy lives like she never existed.


End file.
